Autumn forest, Quebec

The hills of the Charlevoix region along the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec province are dominated by a mixed forest of deciduous trees and conifers. In 1988 UNESCO declared 457,000 ha of this region a Biosphere Reserve. The Quebec forest, boreal in the north and temperate in the south, covers nearly half of the province and has been exploited for lumber since the end of the 17th century. Today it contributes to the economic prosperity of Canada through the production of newsprint paper, paper pulp, and timber, as well as Christmas trees and maple syrup. The Canadian forest has long been overexploited and has also been decimated by parasitic insects (135,000 ha defoliated in 2008 in the Quebecois forest) and fire (133,000 ha burnt in 2008 in Quebec). However, the Canadian forest today still covers over 400 million hectares (30% of the world's boreal forests), around one of million of which is cut down every year. Since 1992, Canada has been striving to introduce sustainable forest practices, and to reconcile the various environmental, economic, social and cultural expectations being made in respect of its forest. In June 2008, Canada certified the sustainable forest management of roughly 138 million hectares according to at least one of the three internationally recognized and accredited standards.